


allow me to be (the one you'll say yes to)

by jeien



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Introspection, Itaru Has Serious Thoughts In The Form Of Gaming Analogies, M/M, No Beta We Die Like August, Pining, part 2 spoilers, post part 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22238569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: Stop being so dramatic, Chigasaki.Dramatic, Chikage had said. Maybe it is being dramatic with his chest running rampant with frustration and daytime-television-worthy thoughts: ‘take me seriously,’ ‘don’t lie to me anymore,’ ‘why can’t you just understand?’‘What should I do to make you want to stay with us?’‘What can I do to make you stay?’
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 9
Kudos: 104





	allow me to be (the one you'll say yes to)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [easternbunny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/easternbunny/gifts).



> based off [this lovely comic](https://twitter.com/masodynamite/status/1216342635444494336) by [the equally lovely yui](https://twitter.com/masodynamite) and dedicated to my chikaita friends out there
> 
> i was gonna go somewhere else with this, but i started writing at 1:30am and i lost most of my nap-induced Good Lines and Imagery so instead you get this. i hope you enjoy nonetheless

Itaru stays awake a little while after the door to their room shuts, mindlessly closing and reopening his apps.

 _Stop being so dramatic, Chigasaki_.

A notification for a full LP gauge snaps him back to attention enough to finally open an app, let it load, press on past the menu screen. A cheery home page greets him and he immediately goes to grind for items, hitting the button a little firmer than normal. Dramatic, Chikage had said. Maybe it is being dramatic with his chest running rampant with frustration and daytime-television-worthy thoughts: ‘take me seriously,’ ‘don’t lie to me anymore,’ ‘why can’t you just understand?’

‘What should I do to make you want to stay with us?’

‘What can I do to make you stay?’

 _I’m just going to a convenience store_.

Is it so dramatic of him when Chikage already has a history of leaving? Again and again, without a word?

Itaru isn’t stupid. He’s terrible at plenty of things that would mark him as a particularly reliable adult, but he’s still a proper one. He is capable of maintaining distances, separating parts of himself into neat boxes, putting up facades. If nothing else, he’s capable of understanding Chikage’s modus operandi despite all the man’s secrets.

Waves of digital enemies spawn on his phone screen and he allows the levels to run on auto-pilot, his eyes glazing over the particle effects and special attack animations. Itaru realizes he’s unequipped with the right weapons for his current node, but his units can easily overpower everything in their path.

Itaru takes stock of his inventory: half-assed lines that can only work in fiction, the kouhai card, playing oblivious to everything as a last resort. It’s a pathetic set for such a quest, even though he’s slowly accumulating all the artillery he needs to slowly battle the ‘Itaru’ his past had built. Even as he opens himself up to his new family, including Chikage, Itaru feels like his senpai’s armor remains impenetrable unless he gives permission to let a crack form—enough of one for those select few to use against him.

He has no special weapon to confront Chikage with.

No secret histories like Hisoka. No pure ideals like Sakuya. No earnest miracles like Izumi.

The victory jingle lures his eyes back down on the screen. Mindlessly grinding had completed missions with currency rewards—enough for a single pull in the rate-up box for a character he desperately wants.

If there’s anything that would make Itaru’s already volatile mood worse, it would be a bad roll.

_What should I do to make you want to stay with us?_

As if he could possibly ask that. He’s a proper adult. It won’t sound cute at all and, knowing Chikage like he does, would probably fly over his unromantic senpai’s head.

The rates are terrible.

_What can I do to make you stay?_

Itaru pulls anyway.

The door opens.

“See?” is the first thing Chikage says as he crosses their threshold. “I’ve returned like I promised.”

“You didn’t promise me anything, senpai,” Itaru says dryly, taking his eyes off the summon screen. Chikage holds a plastic bag from the nearby convenience store, just as he said. He can see the faint outline of spicy snacks and energy drinks for presumably another busy evening spent with his secret life.

Chikage huffs out a chuckle. “With that tone, you’re more like my upset wife than anything.” He walks over to the sofa where Itaru pointedly ignores his comment, frowning at his phone, and peers over his shoulder with their cheeks almost touching. And with that insufferably teasing lilt, he asks, “Alright, dear, what’s gotten you so irritable? What should I do to help you feel better?”

Itaru wants to punch him in the mouth.

Normally, he wouldn’t have the right weapon set for such an endeavor. Chikage is stronger, faster, more durable. He’s not someone Chikage considers special, so he has nothing special to fight back with. Itaru had already resolved himself to keep uselessly attacking until something new happened.

So, of course Itaru will take an opportunity to reclass if it’s being presented.

_What can I do to make you stay?_

Chikage’s eyes widen a bit from behind his glasses as Itaru gently punches him in the mouth with his own mouth.

“Well, _dear_ ,” Itaru says, a faint smirk crawling onto his lips as he pulls away to look down at the SSR dupe on his phone, “since you offered, you can comfort me.”

He’s an ordinary, proper adult with no special weapons, but he has the patience and dirty tricks borne from a P2W player.

For now, that’ll have to be enough.


End file.
